Sorry, folks! I know I’ve been neglecting things here. Life has gotten away from me a little bit.

We’re still in our current place through late in the year. While it’s certainly not permanent, I’ve felt in a “nesting” mood, so decided to start a little garden. But, of course, there are limitations. I can’t go tearing up the yard or doing anything permanent, so I’ve decided to start my garden in pots. When you start reading some about gardening, it’s amazing how much you can grow in a small space.

I’ve started conservatively with eight pots. I don’t want to go crazy, and I’m not trying to make a HUGE project for myself right now, so I though eight sounded like a nice, round number to start with. Eight pots let me grow a variety of things and learn along the way while (hopefully) giving us some lovely fresh veggies.

I’ve started out with a handful of herbs. I wanted mint for mojitos and mint chocolate chip ice cream and because it smells like heaven. Mint also supposedly grows like wildfire, so I thought it would be difficult for me to mess up. I’m also growing basil—again, because it smells good, and because I think it tastes like summer. Some oregano and lavender (it attracts bees) rounds out my oh-so-fabulous herb collection.

Then come the veggies. I love the idea of heirloom vegetables, but it’s hard to know where to start. I also waited until late in the season to decide to start my little garden, so my options were more limited. I wanted to try our cherry tomatoes because I thought they would be well-suited to pots, but the garden center didn’t have any left. Instead, I went with Roma tomatoes (should go well with the basil and some nice mozzarella) and a much larger kind called Mortgage Lifter. I’ve never tried Mortgage Lifter before, and I don’t know how a larger tomato will do growing in a pot, so this is an experiment.

In addition to my tomatoes, I’m trying to grow cucumbers and pole beans. I didn’t realize how big cucumber vines would grow. These things really sprawl! They also attract a certain kind of bug that likes to eat them. It presents a challenge, but I’m hoping to get a few viable cucumbers out of it. The beans are an interesting plant, too. They grow upward, so they don’t require that much room at the base. It’s fun to watch them grow so far, but I might need to plant more if I really want to get enough to make real dishes from them.

It’s a small garden, but I really do love it. It’s nice to have a reason to go outside and enjoy the weather and fresh air. At the same time, it’s not so large that it takes up all my time and energy. I’m looking forward to seeing how things go.

We’ve finally made a decision. No, we haven’t quite decided whether to rent or buy, but we have decided we’re done with apartment living. Now, where we live depends on what we can find. Our lease is up this year, and if we can’t find a house we’d love to buy, we’ll at least find a house we can rent. I’m excited about the idea of having more space, and I’m already planning my shopping list.

Things for our new space

Vacuum
Soon I’ll be a dog mom, and dogs come with hair. And I have allergies. So, my plan is to research the best HEPA vacuum we can find in hopes of keeping the floors clean and the air free from dander. I’ve had a lot of issues with dirt and allergens in the past, so I’m hopeful that this kind of HEPA vacuum will do the trick for us. It should be bagless, have great suction, and trap almost everything. I’m weirdly excited.

Lawnmower
Whether we rent or buy a house, a lawn is in our immediate future. That means that we’ll need a lawnmower quite soon. I can’t say that I’m thrilled about this aspect of being in a house, but it’s kind of a necessary evil. I hope that we can find a postage stamp yard that will give us a little room to have a table and chairs outside but not a place so big that we have to spend hours every weekend dealing with yardwork.

Espresso machine
I love coffee. I’ve always made do with a drip coffee machine supplemented by the occasional Starbucks, but it’s my dream to have a real espresso machine. The one I want is nearly twice the size of my regular coffee maker, so I need to wait until we have more counter space. I’m counting the days on this purchase! Vanilla lattes, here I come!

Stand Mixer
A lot of people feel like stand mixers are the registry holy grail. They’re expensive as can be an take up a lot of room. Honestly, I don’t know where I’ll find a ton of time to bake (what other things do you mix?), but I feel like I owe it to myself to see what all the hype is about.

Good toaster oven
I often find myself with leftovers when I come home from restaurants or simply with too much food from a home cooking project (cooking for one isn’t always easy). And there are many things that don’t reheat well in microwaves—namely pieces of meat or dishes that have a lot of bread. Those just tend to get hard and gross, even if you’re careful with the microwaving time. Toaster ovens work so much better for this kind of thing. However, as with espresso machines, they take up a lot of room. Can’t wait for my bigger kitchen!

Confession: wedding planning has basically ground to a halt. I’ve just been tired and overwhelmed and unmotivated. So instead of spiraling into an abyss of immobility, I’m trying to focus on doing a couple of little things that make me excited. So, of course, that means focusing on the honeymoon! I think I’ve narrowed it down to five places.

France
I mean, what is more romantic than the City of Light? I had the chance to go to Paris on a work trip several years ago, but I only had an extra day to explore, which isn’t nearly enough. I would love to spend 2-3 days visiting the Louvre, gazing at the colors of Sainte Chapelle, wandering Versailles, and just enjoying the city. The plan would then be to head west to the beaches of Normandy and on to the glorious Mont St Michel. I think this sounds absolutely perfect, and it’s my leading contender for the perfect honeymoon destination.

Greece
Greece—and especially Athens—has been on my bucket list since I was in middle school. I’m a total history buff at heart, and the idea of climbing the hill of the Acropolis and standing in the spot where civilization basically started fills me with such a sense of excitement. I know it’s nerdy, but I don’t really care 😊 From there, Santorini and Mykonos would be on the list. Sipping white wine, gazing at the blue-domed churches, and sailing across blue seas sounds kind of like heaven. The drawback? It’s not cheap, like really not cheap. I really want to travel to Greece, and it’s possible that it would be the perfect spot for a honeymoon, but I think the truth is that we’re going to have to save for longer to make this one work out.

Ireland
The fact that the third place on my list is also in Europe makes me think that it’s been far too long since I’ve been to that beautiful continent. I had a few hours in Dublin on a layover one time, and it was just enough time to walk down Grafton Street and visit St. Stephen’s Green. Which is to say that it was just enough to whet my appetite. I would love to go back to discover more of Dublin and then head up to Belfast, the Dark Hedges, and the amazing Giants Causeway. As I said, I’m a not-so-closeted nerd, and I love visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites, so this would be totally perfect.

St. John
Finally, the Caribbean. St. John has been a dream destination for a long time. The rolling hills and pristine beaches look like heaven. I know that the island was hit quite hard in the hurricanes last fall and I haven’t been able to find too much information from people on the ground about how the situation really is now. I have my heart set on relaxing on the beach and snorkeling in this pretty place, but I’m afraid I may have to wait until they’ve had more time to recover. Although, if I keep dragging my feet on all things wedding, who know—it could still work out yet.

Dominican Republic
Punta Cana has such a huge concentration of all-inclusive resorts that it’s kind of like a beach playground. I love the ability to leave the property and really interact with the location where I am—not feel like I’m separate from it. For that reason, I’ve been looking at Caso de Campo and some other spots that could be appealing. And while I don’t know if you can stay there, Saona Island looks like a gorgeous spot.

There are so many beautiful options in the world! I have a lot of thinking to do.

As we’ve explored the idea of buying a house, we’ve had to dig into something that intimidates a lot of people (us included!)—credit scores. I’ve always been careful to pay my bills on time, but it’s easy to get underwater with interest if you can’t pay credit cards in full every month. Still, I’ve learned that my credit is decent but could use a little work. In this whole process of looking at buying a home, I’ve learned so much about what actually goes into a credit score. Do you know the factors? I certainly didn’t, so I thought I’d share them with you.

Lately, we have been wrestling with a big question—now that we’re getting married (and getting more stuff), will we continue rеnting оr is it finally time to buy a house? Whісh is a bеttеr сhоісе financially and for hаvіng a dесеnt ѕhеltеr, соmе rain оr ѕhіnе? There is so much conflicting information. In ѕеаrсh fоr аnѕwеrѕ, we’ve соmе асrоѕѕ dіffеrеnt statistics аnd studies ѕhоwіng оff реrѕресtіvеѕ bаѕеd оn thе nаtіоnаl есоnоmу. And while that’s all well and good, ultimately it’s a personal decision. These are just a few of the questions we’ve been asking ourselves.

How much can we really afford?
Rental prices in the area where we want to be are pretty high. Interestingly, that may mean that we could actually save money buying a house. If we can find a deal where our mortage payment is roughly comparable to our rent, once you take into account the mortgage tax credit we may come out ahead. Plus that would mean we’re no longer “throwing away” money.

How interested are we in more projects?
Many homes near us are on the older side. So far, much of what we’ve found hasn’t really been renovated. That means, if we do buy, we’re likely to have a lot of work in front of us. That is definitely one point that makes buying not very appealing.

Whеrе are our lives headed?
No big deal. Just a small question. No readily available answers on this one.

Whеthеr we end up renting оr buуіng, I think it’s time to consult a rеаl еѕtаtе аgеnt. At least that way we’ll get some good advice on рrісеs, location, and the work we would have to put in to have a home that we want.